Abstract
Until the mid-1980s, the Bolivian mines sustained the national economy, generating up to 70% of the country’s international income (U.S. Department of Labor and Care International 2006). The role of mining in the national economy diminished after 1985 when international prices for mining products decreased. The government handed over some mines to private enterprises or left them open for miners to establish cooperatives. International prices for mining products have been increasing again since 2005, and accordingly COMIBOL started to reverse the policy of privatisation. There are now four types of mining companies: state mining, medium-scale mining, small-scale mining and cooperatives. Mining cooperatives are groups of at least ten miners – although usually a few hundred – who exploit mines and share profits; in theory they do this according to an equal share, but in practice a hierarchy exists in functions and incomes.
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Notes
- 1.
A balneario is a place where people can bathe and wash themselves, often using naturally heated water from sources like volcanoes.
- 2.
From the National Industrial Chemical Notification and Assessments Scheme website; available from
http://www.nicnas.gov.au/Publications/Information_Sheets/Safety_Information_Sheets/SIS_4_Sodium_Ethyl_Xanthate_Liquid_PDF.pdf, retrieved August 2008
- 3.
Interview held March 28 2007
- 4.
El Potosí, “Los recursos de la ayuda externa no llegan necesariamente a los menores”, April 12 2007
- 5.
IPEC, Programas y proyectos de erradicación del trabajo infantil en la minería artesanal, http://www.oit.org.pe/ipec/pagina.php?seccion=42&pagina=107. Retrieved August 2008
- 6.
Interview held April, 2007, Potosí
References
MMSD América del Sur (ed) (2002) Minería, minerales y desarrollo sustentable en América del sur: IIED, WBCSD
US Department of Labor, Care International (2006) De la mina a la escuela: Tendiendo puentes y caminos para la eliminacion del trabajo infanto-adolescente minero en Bolivia, pp 99. Care International, La Paz
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Baas, L. (2010). Ore Mining in Bolivia. In: Lieten, G. (eds) Hazardous Child Labour in Latin America. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0177-9_6
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